Lonely This Christmas
by Mall Rat Matt
Summary: One-shot Trudy/Lex pairing. The Mallrats return to the city to find their home looted. While the rest of the tribe look on the bright side, Trudy finds comfort in the most unlikely of places. Written for the Eyeboards Christmas Treats challenge 2006.


Original challenge:

Username: JayLover03  
Character(s): Trudy, Lex, Salene and Brady (and anyone else you want to write)  
Pairing: Trudy/Lex  
Tribal/Non-Tribal: Tribal  
Three Lines:  
1. "Does it look like I care?"  
2. "That's what you get when you mix love with hatred."  
3. "Who put you in charge?"  
Three Objects: mirror, a red bow, a puzzle (jigsaw) piece

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Trudy's heart skipped with joy as the boat stopped and Darryl and the trader hopped out to tie the vessel securely to its mooring. As she stepped onto the wooden jetty she breathed out a huge sigh of relief. 'Home!' she said. 'We're finally home!' They had been away from the city for months, trying to survive on a small island up the coast, but as soon as they felt it was safe everyone had been in favour of returning to the city. The journey back had been long, and the less said about Gel the better. Had Ebony not been suffering from severe seasickness, Trudy was sure that the younger girl would have been thrown overboard.

But none of that mattered now. They were home. Trudy followed the rest of her tribe back to the mall, carrying a sleeping Brady in her arms. When they got there, however, the place was in a state of chaos. Looters had ransacked the place while they had been away, and it appeared that everything that hadn't been nailed down had been taken. The Mallrats all rushed off to inspect their rooms.

'What have they done to our home?' Salene cried, when everyone was assembled once more by the fountain.

'Where's all our stuff?' the kids wailed. Lottie held out her hand to reveal a single jigsaw piece, apparently all that remained of her toys. The initial joy Trudy had felt at being back in the city had turned to a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

The tribe stood around in a depressed silence until Jack gave a small cough and produced a key from his pocket. 'There might be something left,' he said quietly, and made his way to the basement stores. Most of the tribe remained where they were, but Trudy, Salene and Lex followed him, intrigued. He led them to the furthest part of the room, where a shelving unit had been pulled over to reveal a door. Jack let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the heavy padlock was still intact and proceeded to unlock it with his key, open the door and step inside. The others followed him and found him standing by an open cupboard, holding a tin of beans. 'There's not much,' he said. 'But there should be enough to last until we can get back on our feet.'

'That's brilliant Jack!' Salene enthused, walking further into the dark room. 'What else is in here?'

Jack shrugged. 'Just some stuff that was stored in the mall before the Virus,' he said. 'I never had a chance to sort through it all.'

'Hey, look at this!' Salene said. 'A box of Christmas decorations and a tree! We haven't celebrated Christmas in ages. Why don't we do it now?'

'What have we got to celebrate?' Trudy asked, still reeling from the sight of the trashed mall.

Salene laughed. 'Being back at home of course!' she said. 'Come on guys, help me carry this stuff upstairs.'

'Who put you in charge?' Lex moaned.

'Come on guys,' Salene repeated. 'It'll be fun! Just the thing to cheer everybody up!' She tossed a Santa hat in Lex's direction but he made no effort to catch it, letting it fall to the floor and giving Salene an 'I wouldn't be seen dead in that' look. Her persistence paid off, however, as Trudy, Jack and Lex all found themselves carrying dusty boxes up to the mall.

Salene's idea went down well with the rest of the tribe. Amber and Jay were delighted, the kids excited and even Ebony and Slade were won over when they found a stash of mistletoe in one of the boxes. Before long everything had been planned out. That night there was to be a Christmas Eve party, with presents the following morning. Each Mallrat had been allocated another tribe member to find a present for somewhere in the mall. Although she wasn't in the mood for celebrating Christmas, Trudy thought it unfair to force her unhappiness on everyone else, and so she spent the afternoon present hunting, eventually finding three different sized balls to give to Darryl as a juggling set, and helping Brady to choose a dress for the party. In the end they settled on one that was made of a shimmery silver material that made her look like an angel. She finished it off by tying a big red bow in her daughter's hair.

'Thanks Mommy!' Brady smiled. 'Come on, party!'

'Oh, no sweetheart,' Trudy said. 'Mommy isn't coming to the party.'

Brady's lip quivered and her eyes began to glisten with unshed tears. 'Mommy not coming?' she sobbed.

'Well, okay,' Trudy said grudgingly. 'But only for a little while.' Instantly placated, Brady skipped off to join the party. With a sigh Trudy quickly checked her appearance in the mirror and followed. Negotiating the dance floor, where the rest of the tribe were dancing to a medley of Christmas songs that Jack must have dug up from somewhere, as well as the usual cheesy pop songs that they got out at every party, she sat down where she could keep an eye on Brady but still be miserable in peace. Or so she thought.

'Well haven't you got a face like a wet weekend?' Lex said, emerging from the shadows next to her, clutching a bottle.

'Does it look like I care?' she replied acidly. 'Of all the people that could have spotted her, why did it have to be Lex?

'Lighten up Trude,' he said, taking a swig of his bottle. 'It's Christmas, apparently.'

'Some Christmas,' she mumbled.

'What happened to you anyway?' he continued, and to her horror he sat down beside her. 'You were sickeningly happy this morning.

'That was this morning,' she said. 'Before we came home to this.' She gestured with her hand, past the Christmas tree with everyone's presents underneath it and the fairy lights hung from anything and everything, to the walls covered in fresh graffiti and the rubbish swept to the wall to clear space for the dance floor.

'So we live in a pigsty,' Lex said. 'Big deal.'

'It's not just that,' she sighed. 'It's like whenever we manage to crawl out of one nightmare, we end up falling head first into another one. It never ends. It's just…' she trailed off.

'It's all too much,' Lex finished.

'Exactly,' she said, a little surprised. 'And it's alright for Jay and Amber. Even Ebony.'

'But it's harder when you're on your own.'

'Yes,' she said softly, looking at him. He sat with his head bowed, his long hair obscuring his face. With his tough guy exterior it was easy to forget that Lex had lost people too, and more than most. At least she knew for sure that Bray was dead and Jay was alive – even if he did seem to be permanently attached to Amber's face these days. Lex didn't know if he should be mourning Tai San or out looking for her.

'She would have loved all this,' he said, taking in the happy faces. 'I miss her Trudy.' He turned to look at her and she was surprised by how vulnerable he looked. Instinctively, she reached out and wiped a tear from his eye. He did the same; she hadn't even realised she was crying. Then they kissed. How it happened and who instigated it she couldn't say, but it happened.

'No,' she said, suddenly pushing Lex away. 'This is wrong. I mean, we hate each other! How can this be happening?'

'Well I guess that's what happens when you mix love with hatred,' he said.

'No Lex,' she replied, shocked. 'Don't say you love me. We're both lonely, that's all, and you've had a little too much to drink. It was a terrible mistake.'

But Lex wasn't listening. 'Love and hate,' he mused. 'Tai San used to say there was a fine line between them.'

'It's a very thick line,' she argued. 'Surrounded by a very large hedge. And a fence.'

'Hedges die,' he said, brushing her cheek gently. She didn't stop him. 'Fences can come down. Didn't it feel better for a while?'

She tried to stop herself thinking about the kiss but couldn't help herself; she remembered it all too well, and he was right. For a brief moment she hadn't been lonely or afraid. She had felt safe. With Lex! She didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

'It would never work.'

'It doesn't hurt to try,' he said, and kissed her again. This time she didn't pull back.

'It's past midnight!' Jack yelled from the stairs. 'Merry Christmas everyone!' The sound of cheering filled the mall, but Trudy barely noticed it.

'Merry Christmas Trudy,' Lex whispered in her ear.

'Merry Christmas Lex,' she replied.


End file.
